Omiete Blessing
A real estate investor, My-ACE China, has called on Rivers State Government to order a clear policy that will guide the ease of doing businesses in the state
The entrepreneur, who is popularly known as ‘Mayor of Housing’, urged that the government should clarify its policies for investors, so as to remove bottlenecks that may inconvenience or drive away businesses from the state.
Recalled that during the recent State Economic and Investment Summit, held in Port Harcourt, Governor Siminalayi Fubara indicated a political will for the state to emerge as hub of investments, while calling on investors to access the opportunity to bring in their business in the state.
Speaking on the governor’s comment, China opts for a free access to the powers that take the decision for the implementation of the policy. He said “Rivers State is not only willing to emerge, I have been doing business here for a couple of years, Rivers people are yearning to emerge”.
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China advised the state government to be mindful of the individuals that will handle whatever agency that will be placed with the responsibility of the resolutions that will came out of this summit for business development in Rivers.
“The most important thing for the government is clarity of processes and removal of bottlenecks. For instance, when the former federal administration of Olusegun Obasanjo wanted to succeed in drugs, they put somebody that was non-political in the person of the late Dora Akunyili to head that agency. It was to make sure that political and bureaucratic bottlenecks were removed.
“This is because having a clear vision, having clear agenda and clear intentions is one thing, but having individuals with the competence, character, and resistance to bribery and other inducement to be able to birth that vision and agenda in practical implication is more important than having those agencies.
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“You might have agencies for those visions and those agenda, if they are the same political agencies filled with the same bureaucratic bottlenecks of Nigerian agency, you will find that the difficulty of passing through those agencies to get your business through is back to the same old business of difficulty of doing business and the government intention might not get to the real business practitioners”.
Noting the political crisis as a serious challenge that may have setback development in the state, China said “With this clear agenda and with the vision that will come out after this summit, we are sure that when the governor was running or walking in the midst of crisis, when the crisis is over and the vision is clearer, we believe we will not only fly but help those of us that are willing to fly to fly with him in investments”.
The ‘Mayor of Housing’ told the governor that “Business people in Rivers State want to help the state emerge but sometimes when there are political and bureaucratic bottlenecks between your intentions and the reality, even what the policy has said you can do, you find you can’t do it anymore”.